Athletes and coaches are constantly concerned with performance enhancement and means for determining whether performance has been improved. Likewise, as an evaluation tool recruiters and coaches are interested in performance evaluation. The venerable stop watch remains a coach's primary ally in determining speed over a distance; however, there are a number of performance parameters which are measurable in much smaller increments than normally attainable with a stop watch or are not measurable with sufficient accuracy with a stop watch. Among these are the vertical jump ability of an athlete, the response time to a signal, and the explosive leg power of an athlete. There have been devices in the past which measure vertical jump by requiring the athlete to touch a standard as he jumps; however, often times the touch does not occur at the zenith or does not occur at full extension of the arm, thus the vertical jump measurement is often somewhat inaccurate. Likewise, response time has heretofore been measured by visual observation, which introduces the physical limitations of the observer and is inaccurate. Other systems have been devised using photosensors and cameras; however, such systems are unduly costly and sometimes difficult to use in particular lighting situations.
Explosive leg power is a factor in the ability of the athlete to perform repeated jumping motions to a maximum height in a minimal time. In basketball parlance, how much air time can the player sustain around the rim?
To date, I am unaware of any device which can evaluate the athletes performance in terms of speed, jump height, explosive leg power, and reaction time.